So about this California Supreme Court...conservative, liberal...?

[BluegrassDem]

I know California has had a bunch of Republican governors, so can anyone tell what kind history this court has with regard to civil rights, gay rights, etc? Is it a slam dunk they'll overturn Prop 8 or could it be a split court?

[NYC_SKP]

1. Only one of the seven was appointed by a Democratic governor.

Though I wouldn't say to let that dampen your hopes.

[DrToast]

2. It's more likely they'll uphold it

Which is probably the correct legal decision.

[NYC_SKP]

4. No, not probably the correct legal decision...IMO.

I hope that they'll find that the citizenry cannot revise the constitution by the ballot initiative process, not in a way that restricts the rights of the few through a popular vote of a majority.

There are three questions:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Proposition 8 Cases

Background
California voters approved Proposition 8, a state ballot initiative, at the November 4, 2008, statewide election. Proposition 8 added a new section to the state Constitution which provides that "Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California." The day after the election, three lawsuits challenging Prop. 8 were filed directly in the California Supreme Court.

On November 19, 2008, the Supreme Court agreed to hear those cases. The court directed the parties to brief and argue the following issues:
(1) Is Proposition 8 invalid because it constitutes a revision of, rather than an amendment to, the California Constitution?
(2) Does Proposition 8 violate the separation of powers doctrine under the California Constitution?
(3) If Proposition 8 is not unconstitutional, what is its effect, if any, on the marriages of same-sex couples performed before the adoption of Proposition 8?

In the order accepting the cases for review, the Supreme Court also denied a request to stay the operation of Proposition 8 pending the court's resolution of the cases, granted the motion of the official proponents of Proposition 8 to intervene in the action, and established an expedited briefing schedule. Briefing in the Supreme Court was completed on January 21, 2009. All briefs are available online on the Prop 8 page.
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Check this link at 10:00 a.m. PST tomorrow, 7:00 a.m. Eastern. http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/courts/supreme /

The full copy of the opinion will be available here: http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/opinions /

I'm cautiously optimistic. Logic tells me that 2, if not 1 and 2, are very convincing arguments.

[grantcart]

8. I agree and I too am cautiously optomistic

The idea that civil rights is something that can be given and taken away by ballot is offensive to judicial review.

What happens if it is passed by initiative can it then be taken away the next time?

Doesn't make sense once you accept the premise that it is a civil right.

[LooseWilly]

3. It's not at all certain...

... but they were the ones who overturned the ballot initiative that declared marriage to be between a man and a woman in the first place. That decision was based on the State Constitution though, which can apparently be changed as easily as a ballot measure can pass...

Here's to hoping that previous equal rights amendments will be judged as having to be overturned first, before this "separate and unequal" provision of the Constitution can go into effect.

I'd be interested to see if my fellow Californians would be willing to overturn all equal rights protections in order to define marriage as being between a man and a woman...

[TeamJordan23]

5. I think they will uphold Prop 8, but also uphold the marraige license of those married already. nm

[Iwillnevergiveup]

6. From what I've read

I agree with you. But, very unfortunate that big states like CA and NY couldn't follow the recent momentum from smaller states legalizing gay marriage.:thumbsdown:

[Merlot]

7. CA did legalize gay marriage. It was the morman church which

stuck their collective noses in our state and created this mess.